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Homebrew Board - Recipes

429,954 Views | 3354 Replies | Last: 3 mo ago by Chipotlemonger
Chipotlemonger
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Thanks for the input! Yes I've seen online that igloo mash tun batch sparging efficiency tends to max out in that range, I just wanted to know if I was doing something really wrong with my process or if I just need to buy more grain.

Would a single malt beer be too simplistic for the hops I'm using? I'm guessing not, considering Smash beers are just fine.
Ornlu
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You don't need to stick to one malt, but I suppose you can if you want to.

My (square) igloo cooler batch sparge setup routinely gets 78-82% efficiency. But I have 10 years experience on the same setup.
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Chipotlemonger
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If anyone was ever considering kegging, Austin Home Brew is running a great deal. $39/keg used, or $150/4-pack used kegs. That's about exactly what I paid secondary anyways, and these are going to probably be in better shape than anything you buy secondhand from someone else.
fav13andac1)c
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Ball lock too! Nice. https://www.austinhomebrew.com/Ball-Lock-Keg-Used--5-gallon_p_4681.html
Ornlu
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I have pin locks. Which one clogs less, do you think? I sometimes get hob trub or fruit stuck in the pin-lock poppets.
Chipotlemonger
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I've always liked the ball lock setup more personally. Makes more sense for me for a liquid interface, but that may be bias from my days as an equipment engineer.
fav13andac1)c
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Ornlu said:

I have pin locks. Which one clogs less, do you think? I sometimes get hob trub or fruit stuck in the pin-lock poppets.
Both have worked about the same for me in the past, I just like the shape of the ball lock keg. Since it is taller and more slender, I can fit more kegs into the keezer.

However, I had the same issue you had at one point and purchased a SS screen for the dip tube. My issues were on the fermentation side, but transfers from fermentation kegs have been a breeze since, even with hoppier beers.

https://www.amazon.com/Corny-Keg-Dip-Tube-Screen/dp/B07F92VPRW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2EBYYKDU977TT&dchild=1&keywords=corny+keg+dip+tube+screen&qid=1593194452&sprefix=corny+keg+dip+%2Caps%2C163&sr=8-1
cgary11
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Does anyone have a good Munich helles recipe?

This is what I am thinking after perusing the web, is the decoction worth it? I want to have a slight bready flavor, should I just throw in some Munich or melanoidin instead?

98% Pilsner malt
2% CaraHell

-mash at 130F ~ 20 minutes
-Pull a decoction, bring to 155, rest for 30 mins, bring to a boil and add back to the mash, target 155, rest for 50
-second decoction, boil for 10 minutes, add to mash and start fly sparge



90 minute boil, split 2oz noble hops split between 60 minutes and 15.

WLP835 or Wyeast 2308 depending on what's in stock.
Chipotlemonger
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I've seen a lot of mixed sayings on decoction. Apparently there are malts nowadays that have been grown and produced differently, and removes the need for it. But which malts and by how much does it remove the "need" who knows.
Ornlu
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I haven't heard about any homebrewers doing decoctions, but I googled it, and came across
https://byo.com/article/decoction-mashing-techniques/

Looks like the science is sketchy at best. But you can if you just want to.
cgary11
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Yeah I feel like I would be doing it, just to do it.

Probably going the melanoidin malt route.
AlaskanAg99
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Ornlu said:

I haven't heard about any homebrewers doing decoctions, but I googled it, and came across
https://byo.com/article/decoction-mashing-techniques/

Looks like the science is sketchy at best. But you can if you just want to.


Uh, you've never heard of Homebrewers doing it? I know tons that do.
aTm '99
Ornlu
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Apparently my crowd is not your crowd.
AlaskanAg99
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Ornlu said:

Apparently my crowd is not your crowd.


Maybe not. My club has a dedicated German brewing group that gets together regularly.

I've never done it but they swear by it.
aTm '99
RustyBoltz
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I brew my Oktoberfest using a modified double decoction. This year my homebrew partner and I brewed the same grain bill at the same time, me following my decoction schedule, him brewing it on an Anvil AIO but still hitting all the same mash rests. The aroma pre-boil was noticeably different and SRM into the fermenters was too.
We rack them to secondary this weekend an in two months we'll see how different they really are.
Chipotlemonger
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Interesting! Definitely post the results here in a couple months.
Chipotlemonger
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Okay I put together a recipe for a pale ale and wanted to see if anyone here had any feedback before I get my ingredients.

I built this around the hops I have on hand I wanted to use. Here's what I had in volume and alpha acid % (they're all pellets):

Hops and Hop Schedule:

Willamette 0.25 oz 3.50%
Chinook 0.9 oz 9.90%
Centennial 0.9 oz 8.14%
Simcoe 0.6 oz 12.90%



Grain bill:



Yeast: S-05 for a straight forward clean beer

Any input? I don't really care too much at aiming at any particular profile, just a good pale ale.
Chipotlemonger
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Disregard that FG box above

Ornlu
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That's an appropriate amount of hops, and a good grain bill too. Should be right in the center of the style guidelines.
Chipotlemonger
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Thanks for the input and checking it out! I appreciate it. Middle of the road was exactly what I was aiming for to give me some leeway in either direction if things go wrong.
lne2011
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For anyone that uses yeast from White Labs give this thread a read.

TLDR; multiple breweries are having trouble with yeast from White Labs

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheBrewery/comments/hrb3l0/is_there_trouble_with_wl002_an_update_the_evidence/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
Ornlu
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Oh crap. Last time this happened White Labs lost their shirt, and they've only just recently started to recover their reputation. How TF can they still have process contamination problems?
Chipotlemonger
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Interesting. When was the last time this happened with White Labs? I don't know if I've heard about that before.

Thanks for posting that reddit link. I read it and seemed that most of the problems came after a few uses of the yeast? Using then harvesting a few times. Did I understand this guy's post right?

Anyways, I wonder why that is. Why is it fine on the first batch or 2 or 3, but not the next one? And to take it a step further, for us as homebrewers, does it matter either way if we aren't harvesting/washing/re-pitching our yeast?
lne2011
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They went through a multimillion dollar lawsuit with Left Hand Brewing a few years ago. You should be able to search and find the details.

As a home brewer using the yeast once, not really any issue. But if you could get yeast from another lab I would.

What's happening is they're sending pitches of yeast with foreign colonies(FC). These are what produce the off flavors. Over multiple generations these FC continue to reproduce at a faster rate, becoming more and more prevalent. After 3-4 generations there's enough FC to produce major off flavors.
lne2011
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Okay, here's an article on the Left Hand Brewing vs White Labs lawsuit:

https://www.brewbound.com/news/left-hand-files-lawsuit-white-labs-contaminated-yeast#:~:text=Colorado-based%20Left%20Hand%20Brewing,%242%20million%20recall%20in%202016.&text=For%20its%20part%2C%20White%20Labs%20is%20denying%20Left%20Hand's%20claims.

After reading that, I would now say even home brewers should stop using White Labs. The diastaticus in the yeast is a big concern. If it goes through secondary fermentation in a bottle it could become a real danger due to exploding bottles. It could also lead to off flavors or overcarbonation from just a fresh pitch.

Really sad to see a lab like this that has done so much for the beer industry not even try to fix this issue.
Ornlu
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They've tried. They completely revamped their production line, even went off line for a few weeks to fix a lingering contamination issue, just like Blue Bell did. However: it clearly hasn't worked.

And re: diastaticus. It's a desirable trait for some styles, like Saison & ciders. But you don't want it to bleed over to a stout. It's certainly a bottle bomb concern for big beers.

If they have been unable to fix this, I would start to think that their internal corporate culture is so lax about quality control that they might be irredeemable.
lne2011
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True, it wasn't fair to say they hadn't tried to fix the issue. But, three years later and they're still putting out subpar product.
Chipotlemonger
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Floated my keg of toasted pecan brown ale tonight! Thank y'all for the input on the pecan toasting process when I made this. Turned out nicely. Used it a few times when making homemade bread and it was great for that too.
danieljustin06
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Well I'm starting to get back into brewing more frequently now. I even ordered a kegerator to place the one that went out, it will be here Tuesday. I just kegged a kolsche that I did a split batch to test the kevike yeast and fermented it at 95F in my garage because Ornlu wanted me to. Haha. I'll post pictures of the kegerator when I get it. Next up is a Russian imperial stout and I age it until December. I plan to do my toasted pecan brown ale after that.
fav13andac1)c
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Brewing a dry hopped saison next weekend. Using leftover Citra and Mosaic.

Also have a pumpkin recipe lined up for a September brew and I am looking for input. I was more focused on SRM this time around, and wanted to go for orange/amber as opposed to the dark brown this recipe was last year. But, I want to make sure it has enough biscuit/toasted notes to emphasize a "pie crust" sort of flavor. I'm hoping the ~25% of different toasted malts is enough. Also added some brown sugar.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

OG: 1.067 SRM: 14 30 IBUs

8 lb Pilsner (60.4%)
1.25 lb Carapils (9.4%)
1 lb Biscuit (7.5%)
1 lb Melanoidin (7.5%)
1 lb Victory (7.5%)

1 lb Dark Brown Sugar (boil)

30 IBUs of bittering hops (60 minutes)

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice at flameout

1056
lne2011
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fav13andac1)c said:

Brewing a dry hopped saison next weekend. Using leftover Citra and Mosaic.

Also have a pumpkin recipe lined up for a September brew and I am looking for input. I was more focused on SRM this time around, and wanted to go for orange/amber as opposed to the dark brown this recipe was last year. But, I want to make sure it has enough biscuit/toasted notes to emphasize a "pie crust" sort of flavor. I'm hoping the ~25% of different toasted malts is enough. Also added some brown sugar.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

OG: 1.067 SRM: 14 30 IBUs

8 lb Pilsner (60.4%)
1.25 lb Carapils (9.4%)
1 lb Biscuit (7.5%)
1 lb Melanoidin (7.5%)
1 lb Victory (7.5%)

1 lb Dark Brown Sugar (boil)

30 IBUs of bittering hops (60 minutes)

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice at flameout

1056



Pumpkin beers are weird, a lot of them don't actually have pumpkin in them. They just have all the other spices that go into a pumpkin pie. I've made one before with pumpkin puree in the mash(just to say it had pumpkin) and add allspice, ginger, clove and cinnamon towards the end of the boil.

Whose biscuit malt are you using? I've used Castle Malt's biscuit and Dingemans' biscuit before. I found that Dingemans had more biscuit/toast to it than Castle's. So, which malt house it comes from could make all the difference.
fav13andac1)c
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lne2011 said:




Pumpkin beers are weird, a lot of them don't actually have pumpkin in them. They just have all the other spices that go into a pumpkin pie. I've made one before with pumpkin puree in the mash(just to say it had pumpkin) and add allspice, ginger, clove and cinnamon towards the end of the boil.

Whose biscuit malt are you using? I've used Castle Malt's biscuit and Dingemans' biscuit before. I found that Dingemans had more biscuit/toast to it than Castle's. So, which malt house it comes from could make all the difference.
Thanks for the info regarding using Dingemans. I haven't tried both to know, or at least don't think I have, so I'll go with your recommendation if it's available.

Regarding pumpkin in the mash, some people swear by the vegetal qualities you get from mashing with pumpkin, but I've never noticed a difference enough to go through the hassle of adding on a regular basis. What I'm after when it comes to calling it a pumpkin beer is the spice characteristics (what you actually think of when it comes to fall/pumpkin pie). You take out the spices in a pumpkin pie and it becomes pretty bland.
Chipotlemonger
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Alright I have all my ingredients for the pale ale recipe! Looking to brew that this weekend.

That being said I've already planned my next batch. My wife and I both like saisons, and she loves them. She particularly loves the Blackberry Farm Brewery Classic Saison, both for the taste and nostalgia. I'd like to try either nailing it down or getting close enough to be content! I want to brew this and let it get a good long ferment and a nice keg rest.

Found a blog post and recipe here.

Any input on this?


Quote:

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
OG: 1.055
FG: 1.006
IBUs: 33
ABV: 6% (I think this is a typo, should be 6.3% based on other sources and an ABV calculator)


GRAIN BILL:
8.5 lb (3.9 kg) Pilsner malt
1 lb (454 g) Munich malt
1 lb (454 g) wheat malt
4 oz (113 g) Cara-Pils Malt


HOPS:
1 oz (28 g) EKG [5% AA] at 60 minutes
0.5 oz (14 g) each EKG [5% AA] and Saaz [3% AA] at 30 minutes
0.5 oz (14 g) each EKG and Saaz at flameout


YEAST:
1 packet of White Labs WLP565 Belgian Saison

Their Directions:
Mash at a saccharification rest of 145F (63C). Step mash if possible, resting at 121F (50C) and 133F (56C) for 15 minutes respectively before heating to 145F (63C).

Hops charges should include classic noble varieties such as CZ Saaz and UK Golding. I like a large flame-out addition for lots of noble hops flavor.

With WLP 565, fermentation can be tricky. It likes to slow down drastically about 75 percent of the way through. I prefer to start fermentation cool (64F/18C) and free rise into the high 80s Fahrenheit (low 30s Celsius). WLP 565 will ferment down to a SG of 1.006 given enough time. As the beer cools back down, it will continue to ferment, though slowly. Patience is key.

Once terminal gravity is achieved, bottle with 8 g/l dextrose to achieve 44.5 volumes of CO2 for that classic spirited bubble. If you don't wait for the beer to achieve terminal gravity, you'll get over-carbed bottle bombs.
Kyle98
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I've never had the issue mentioned there with WLP565 slowing down. I start at 65 for about 4 days, then another 10 or so at 75, then let it rise up into the low-to-mid- 80s for another week. Produces awesome flavors. I also like Wyeast 3711, which is pretty similar.
 
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